Pattern mechanism for knitting machines



1950 A. E; PAGE ET AL PATTERN MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES FiledApril 17, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet l Feb, 21, 1950 A. E. PAGE ET AL 2,498,092PATTERN MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed April 17, 1946 4Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 21, 195% A. E. PAGE ET AL PATTERN MECHANISM FORKNITTING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 17, 1946 as v 8 llnlnlur25 Feb. 23, 1950 A, E. PAGE ET AL PATTERN MECHANISM FOR KNITTINGMACHINES Filed April. 17, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I /or #37 5 f pagePatented Feb. 21, 1959 PATTERN MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Albert E.Page and Frank R. Page, Laconia, N. H., assignors to Scott & Williams,Incorporated, Laconia, N. H., a corporation of Massachusetts ApplicationApril 17, 1946, Serial No. 652,866

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a pattern mechanism for a knitting machine andhas particular reference to the provision of an auxiliary patternmechanism controlled from the main pattern drum and adapted to secureadditional controlling action.

As will be evident from the following description, the main object ofthe invention is the provision of a pattern mechanism adapted for theattainment of control action beyond that normally attained in a knittingmachine. The auxiliary pattern device which is added to the main patternmechanism may serve as the sole control for various elements of themachine or may serve for the joint control of certain elements inconjunction with the main pattern drum, i. e., certain elements may becontrolled by the main pattern drum at certain times and by theauxiliary pattern drum at other times.

The foregoing object of the invention, as well as additional objectsparticularly relating to details of construction and operation, willbecome apparent from the following description read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the portion of a circular knittingmachine including the pattern mechanism and the various actuatingdevices therefor;

Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the same;

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on the surface the trace of whichis indicated at 33 in Figure 2-;

Figure 4 is a left hand elevation of the same matter;

Figure 5 is an elevation showing a ratchet for control of the auxiliarypattern device together with guarding means for the teeth thereof; and

Figure 6 is a vertical section showing the auxiliary cam drum and atypical element controlled thereby.

There will first be described certain conventional elements of the driveand pattern mechanism of a circular knitting machine in order to furnisha background for the description of the novel features of the invention.

Loose and fast pulleys 2 and 4, respectively, are provided inconventional fashion for belt drive of the machine. The shaft of thepulley carries small gears I9 and I2, the former being of smallerdiameter than the latter. The gear IE! is connected to the shaft throughan overrunning clutch (not shown) in conventional fashion.- The secondgear I2 is journalled on the shaft and carries one element of a clutchM, the

other element of which is splined to the shaft and may be movedlengthwise thereof to clutch the gear l2 to the shaft. The gears l0 andI2 are in mesh with bull gears 6 and 8, of appropriate diameters, whichare secured to a shaft ii. The use of the two sets of gears of differentratios makes possible change in the speed of operation by engagement ordisengagement of the clutch Hi and by the presence of the overrunningclutch which permits overrunning operation of the gear l0 when the driveis effected through the gear l2.

The shaft ll includes acrank l8 joined by a connecting rod 20 to a gearsegment 22 provided with a hub 23 which is journalled on a shaft 2%. Thesegment 22 meshes with a pinion 26 journalled on a shaft 28. A secondpinion 30 journalled on this shaft meshes with the bull gear 6. Thepinions 26 and 30 are, respectively, provided with clutch elements 32and 34 so that they may be selectively clutched to the shaft 28 by axialmovement of a clutch member 36 splined to the shaft 28 and arranged tobe controlled by cam means on a cam "5 carried by the shaft IT. Theusual handle 38 has an overrunning clutch connection with the gear 30 topermit manual turning of the machine when desired. The shaft 28 carriesthe bevel gear 40 which meshes with the bevel gear 42 connected to theneedle cylinder 44.

By reason of the arrangement so far described, when the gear 30 isclutched to the shaft 28, the needle cylinder is rotated, and, at thistime, the shaft it makes one revolution for every four revolutions ofthe needle cylinder. When, on the other hand, the clutch 36 engages thepinion 26 with the shaft 28, the needle cylinder is reciprocated in suchfashion that a rotation of the shaft ll corresponds to a completereciprocation of the needle cylinder.

An arm 46 of the hub 23 of the gear segment has pivoted to it at 48 apawl lever 50, a roller 52 on which is arranged to engage a suitableratchet 54 carried by the main cam drum 56 which is mounted on a shaft58, engagement being maintained by a conventional spring arrangement. Aswill be evident, this pawl then has a complete stroke in every fourrevolutions of the needle cylinder.

A hub 60 journalled on the shaft 24 is provided with an arm 62 providedwith a roller 64 arranged for engagement with the upper rear surface ofthe pawl lever 50. This hub 60 also carries a gear segment 66 meshingwith a gear segment 68 carried by a shaft 10. The hub of the gearsegment 68 carries an arm H provided with a follower l2 engageable bylugs on the main pattern chain 14 which is carried by a sprocket 16connected to a gear 18 driven by a pinion '80, which, in turn, isconnected to a ratchet 82 arranged to be advanced step by step by a pawl84 pivoted to a lever 85 which is oscillated during the operation of themachine by engagement by the pivot pin 48 of the oscillating arm 46. Thechain is thus advanced one third link for every four revolutions of theneedle cylinder or for every complete reciprocation of the needlecylinder, the advance of the chain occurring once for each rotation ofthe shaft IT.

By reason of the control of the follower l2 by the lugs on the patternchain, the pawl lever 59 is rendered selectively active so as todetermine the times of advance of the main cam drum.

Journalled on the shaft H is a lever 88 to which is pivoted a pawl 90arranged to drive a ratchet 82 on the main cam drum. The lever 88 isacted upon by a cam 95 carried by the shaft 28 so that the pawl 9% isgiven one stroke upon each revolution of the needle cylinder. Iheratchet 92, however, is not provided with a complete set of teeth and,consequently, for the most part, the pawl 90 effects no advance of themain cam drum. However, when the teeth of the ratchet 92 bear a properrelationship with the teeth of the ratchet 54, an advance of the maincam drum may be followed by one or more further advances due to theaction of the pawl 99, these advances taking place upon each revolutionof the needle cylinder. In this fashion the main cam drum may beadvanced a step corresponding to four revolutions of the needlecylinder, or, following such an advance, may be given one or more quickadvances for single successive rotations of the needle cylinder.

To the extent so far described, the mechanism is conventional, and inknitting machines embodying this construction, the main cam drum effectscontrol through levers or push rods of the various elements of themachine such as cams, yarn fingers and the like, the machine being, ofcourse, usually provided with auxiliary pattern devices such as chainsor trick wheels for the proper control of various parts for striping,wrapping, plating or other operations, which auxiliary devices arestarted or stopped by the action of cams on the main cam drum.

It has been found, however, that the main controlling action ailorded inthis fashion does not always sufilce for the control actions which arerequired. In accordance with the present invention, therefore, there isprovided an auxiliary pattern drum under the control of the main patterndrum operating in conjunction therewith and/ or as an auxiliary thereto.

The shaft H carries a double lobed cam 9G acting on a follower rollercarried by an arm 98 of a lever B pivoted at N32 to the frame andconnected to a link HM, the rear end of which is provided with apull-type pawl Hit. The pawl H33 cooperates with a ratchet W8 shown inparticular in Figure 5. This ratchet is provided with a full set ofteeth about its circumference, but is so arranged that the various teethmay be selectively guarded by means of small blocks indicated at i it soas to present to the pawl a discontinuous tooth arrangement. The ratchetN98 is connected to a shaft are which carries an auxiliary cam drum 142.

The cam drum H2 carries a second ratchet H6 provided with a full set ofequally spaced teeth. Acting upon this ratchet is a pawl H8 carried by alever I26 pivoted at I21, the lever being urged downwardly by a spring124 and the pawl being urged in engagement with the ratchet by a spring122. The lever 12B is provided with a follower I26 arranged to be actedupon by cams 28 on the main cam drum.

Pivoted on a shaft I30 are a series of levers which may take variousforms; for example, some of these levers, as indicated at I32, arearranged over the auxiliary cam drum to be acted upon by cams thereonand are arranged through links 34 to control various elements of theknitting machine.

Other levers, such as indicated at 536, may extend downwardly in frontof the auxiliary cam drum and may be provided with arms such as 538arranged to operate push-rods such as which are also arranged to beacted upon by cams on the main cam drum. The respective cams on theauxiliary and main cam drum are indicated at 52 and it. Certain of therows of cams on the main cam drum or on the auxiliary cam drum may, ofcourse, act upon push-rods or levers which are not subject to actuationby the other cam drum. It will not be necessary, in connection with thepresent invention, to refer specifically to the parts which arecontrolled by these cam drums; it will sumce to state that these partsmay consist of various cams, yarn fingers, control levers, etc. whichare required to be actuated at various times in the complete cycle ofoperation of the machine.

The operations which are secured through the auxiliary cam drum may bedescribed as follows:

So long as the main cam drum, which is stepped about as heretoforedescribed, is sta tionary, the auxiliary cam drum will also bestationary if a. guarded portion of the ratchet I08 is beneath the pathof the pawl H36 which is continuously oscillated by the cam 96 so as tohave a complete stroke for every two rotations of the needle cylinder.Several alternative conditions may thereafter arise.

As an advance of the main cam drum occurs which does not cause anactuation of the pawl H8, the auxiliary cam drum will remain stationary,and controlling action may be effected in such steps of the main camdrum by the main cam drum alone.

If, however. a cam acts upon the follower I26, the auxiliary cam drumwill be advanced one tooth by the pawl MB; In an advance of the main camdrum under these conditions, controlling acticns may be effected by boththe main cam drum and the auxiliary cam drum. Furthermore, by the properlocation of a cam I28 on the main cam drum, the timing of the advance ofthe auxiliary cam drum may be effected so that, for example, a movementof a machine part by the auxiliary cam drum may occur at a somewhatdifferent time in the rotation of the needle cylinder than a movement ofsome part efiected by a cam on the main cam drum. If the advance of theauxiliary cam drum by the. pawl 5 i8 serves to bring another guardedportion of the ratchet H38 below the pawl 106, there will thus beimparted to the auxiliary cam drum merely a single step. It may bepointed out that the advance of the main cam drum is relatively slow,occurring for example, through the time of more than one rotation of theneedle cylinder. By action of a suitable cam on the main cam drum,however, a quick movement of the auxiliary cam drum may be made tooccur.

However, with conditions otherwise similar to those just described, theadvance of the auxiliary cam drum may bring an unguarded tooth under thepawl I06. If this occurs, then the oscillation of the pawl I06 mayimpart an additional step to the auxiliary cam drum even though the maincam drum remains stationary. Thus, in effect, the auxiliary cam drum notonly serves toadd extra control steps to those which may be securedthrough the main cam drum, limited in number by the circumferencethereof, but the auxiliary cam drum may be responsible for controllingactions which may be desired between advances of the main cam drumeffected bythe pawl lever As will be evident therefore, a substantialincrease in both the number of possible control steps is possible aswell as a greater flexibility in the time when the controlling stepsoccur. The various ratchet teeth on 54 and 92 and the arrangement ofthe'gua-rds on the ratchet 108 may be so related as to secure a greatvariety and freedom of actions. In particular, it may be noted that, bythe use of multiple step cams at I28, the auxiliary drum may be advancedthrough partial or full steps thus providing for still greater varietyof operations.

In general, it is desirable that the auxiliary cam drum should have itsseries of movements completed before the main racking pawlmoves forwardto take another tooth to move the main pattern drum or at least anothertooth which will bring a control earn 128 to act on pawl l I8:so thatthe pattern drums cannot get out of time; with each other despite manualadvances which may be imparted to the main cam drum.

One advantage of the present invention is that the movement of the maincam drum which starts a stepping action of the auxiliary cam drum mayalways be used to obtain some movement of the machine parts and there isno excess movement of the main cam drum when the auxiliary cam drum hascompleted its operation. The auxiliary cam drum can be started as manytimes as there are movements of the main pattern drum sufiiciently longto operate the starting pawl I I8 forthe auxiliary cam drum.

While cam drums have been specifically referred to as the patterningdevices, it will be evident that the principles of the invention'may beapplied to other cyclically operating patterning devices such as chainsor the like. It will thus be evident that variations in the embodimentof the invention may be made without departing from the scope thereof asdefined in the following claims.

What we claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a knitting machine, a primary pattern device, a cyclicallyoperating main pattern device, means for imparting advancing steps tosaid main pattern device under control of said primary pattern device,said means being additionally manually controllable for effectingperiodic advance, at a maximum frequency, of the main pattern deviceindependently of said primary pattern device, a cyclically operatingauxiliary pattern device, means controlled by the main pattern devicefor initiating movement of said auxiliary pattern device, additionalmeans for advancing the auxiliary pattern device after its movement isinitiated by the'main pattern device, and means insuring that theauxiliary pattern device shall finish each of its movements prior to asubsequent initiation of its movement by the main pattern device whenthe latter is advanced at said maximum frequency, so that said patterndevices cannot get out of time.

2. In a knitting machine, a primary pattern device, a cyclicallyoperating main pattern device, means for imparting advancing steps tosaid main pattern device under control of said primary pattern device,said means being additionally manually controllable for effectingperiodic advance, at a maximum frequency, of the main pattern deviceindependently of said primary pattern device, a cyclically operatingauxiliary pattern device, means actuated by advances of the main patterndevice to impart advancing steps to said auxiliary pattern device, meansoperating after at least certain of the last mentioned advancing stepsto impart to the auxiliary pattern device further advancing steps, andmeans insuring that such further advancing steps of the auxiliarypattern device are completed prior to a further advance thereof by theaction of the main pattern device when the latter is advanced at saidmaximum frequency, so that said pattern devices cannot get out of time.

ALBERT E. PAGE. FRANK R. PAGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,236,770 Scott Aug. 14, 19171,627,337 Page May 3, 1927 1,666,794 Scott et al. Apr. 17, 19281,713,353 Scott et al. May 14, 1929 1,956,990 Lawson May 1, 19341,980,103 Shuford et al Nov. 6, 1934

